Taylor Hill's family thought the photographer who scouted her to model was "insane".
Taylor Hill
The 20-year-old beauty was spotted when she was just 14 years old, and everyone who knew her was surprised because she had "frizzy" hair and wasn't very cool.
Speaking to the upcoming new issue of Britain's Vogue magazine, she said: "There's always going to be that part of me that's the girl who got scouted at 14.
"I was, like, the opposite of cool. Obsessed with 'Harry Potter'.
"I had all this frizzy hair I didn't know what to do with; I wore my sisters' hand-me-downs, which I was too tall for, so nothing ever fitted.
"When this photographer saw me and told me I should model it wasn't just me who was like, um, really? Even my parents thought - that guy's insane."
Taylor recently admitted being a Victoria's Secret Angel is a "challenge" for her as she isn't what people would expect of the lingerie models.
She said: "[I'm] more of a loser tomboy type. I'm very nerdy, I love to read -- I'm not necessarily a girl's girl.
"[Being an Angel] really challenges who I am as a person. I'm standing there in underwear, but I'm just [macho] like, 'Hey guys!' "
Of the Angels, Taylor is most close to "weirdo" Behati Prinsloo.
She said: "She's a weirdo. I love her.
"She's just loud and clumsy and she laughs a lot. The first time we met, she was touching my face and being like, 'You're so cute'. And I'm just like, 'I love you!' "
Taylor is dating fellow model and actor Michael Stephen Shank and though their work regularly keeps them away from their New York apartment, she insists it doesn't matter.
She said: "He comes back and forth from LA, but then I go off on location and stuff. But it's OK. Sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Tagged in Behati Prinsloo